The Truth About Living
by Sulcal
Summary: As the saying goes, life is lived forwards, and remembered backwards. But the truth is still there, in those single moments. [VincentReeve, 1sentence LJ chalenge, postDoC]


Brought to you because single-sentence shots are easier to write than full-out stories during Dead Week and the week before Finals. (shrug) Oh well. Most of these are let's-see-how-long-I-can-make-the-sentence-run things... I'm trying to write more fluff. Warning, a few of these might not be safe for the children, slightly suggestive, but not graphic.

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, would this even be here? No? Yeah, I thought so.

The Truth About Living

**1 - Speak**

Reeve floundered mid-sentence, the lips to his cutting him off and making him half-glare at Vincent when the man pulled away with a faint smirk, saying, "You talk too much, Reeve."

**2 - Touch**

He didn't mind it, really, when Reeve grabbed his hand and squeezed tight, palm-to-palm and fingers entwined; Reeve wouldn't let go and his fingers would go numb after a while, but he'd never complain about it... the contact reminded him he was alive still.

**3 - Memory**

It almost made them both wary, really, at the things that they can't tell anyone else, Reeve simply smiling and trying to change the subject and Vincent giving Shelke a blank stare while she opened her mouth and Yuffie elbowed her with a scowl before she could comment, "But I don't ever remember you two saying anything about sharing a room."

**4 - Vanilla**

"Why do you dislike sweet things?" Reeve asked, tucking a spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth and savoring it, and Vincent just shakes his head with a frown and a grunt for an answer: _you'd never understand even if I told you..._

**5 - Chocolate**

February brought about the worst commercialized holiday that could have ever been devised next to Christmas; it was even worse than the stupid eggnog, and the mistletoe, and the trees, and the lights that appeared on Christmas-- Valentine's Day brought chocolate, and between the two of them, neither Reeve nor Vincent could tell who had the the worst soft-spot for the damn stuff.

**6 - Ways and Means**

Vincent wasn't sure whether it was actually having someone he desired that cause his libido to kick in at odd moments, or if it was just how his animalistic side handled things (he'd long ago learned that he'd never be able to turn that part off, no matter what he did, so he dealt with it's advantages and disadvantages), but Reeve was mumbling --"Vincent, this is a rather small office"-- to which Vincent simply nodded and said, "We'll find a way."

**7 - Belief**

"Maybe, but I still don't want to think you're faithless; after all, you're still _here_, aren't you?" the man asks, while staring the other down, and maybe Reeve was right to say that Vincent wasn't faithless, but that wasn't the case, really, and he says so, "Reeve, what faith would I have left in humanity when you're dying of old age?"

**8 - Linger**

Reeve can't help the fact that he sees them (_even if I turned out the lights, _he'd _still see _me), the scars, that trail up and down Vincent's body, and he lets his fingers linger over the bullet-wound-scar to the other man's lung, internally reminding himself the costs of their relationship.

**9 - Illuminance**

They're both half expecting to be caught, and both of them know damn well that Tifa was throwing a party down stairs but neither of them could bring themselves to care as they watched from the roof, just sitting all alone as they watched the first snow fall over Midgar-Edge in years; the snow flakes caught for a brief moment in the lights and sparkled, making the world seem lighter.

**10 - Ornament**

Vincent still wore it, the gauntlet, when working for Reeve sent him outside the city-- he still wore them, the cloak and the black clothes, instead of the suits he's managed to coax himself into over the years-- it all still comes in handy, but he knows they're only a symbol.

**11 - Coup de foudre**

It was never an out-of-the-blue-thunder-bolting-first-sight kind of love, that much was true; after all, Vincent was far too wise and jaded and cynic now, and Reeve was still far too naive and kind and hopeful to ever believe in those sorts of things.

**12 - Archway**

"You jump off a bridge that hight again, and I'll have a heart attack," Reeve shouted, still clutching the graze to his shoulder, "and I don't care _how_ my life is endangered my life is!"

**13 - Fate**

"Do you think it was fate that this all happened?" Vincent asked, looking up at the silhouette of what had been Omega --still visible, even during the day-- and Reeve wasn't sure how he could tell him, _no, choices did,_ because if anyone could defy Fate, Vincent could.

**14 - Pulse**

_Shh, it's a secret, you know, but I like how your heart beats,_ and he can feel it under his lips as he presses a soft kiss to the other's throat and knows, just like his lover does, that this could easily fall apart, _but I have no idea what I'd do if that happened, you're all I ha--_ he cuts the thought short and decides not to ruin the moment when blunt fingernails dig into his shoulders, spurring him harder...

**15 - Envelope**

The beginnings had always started off with paperwork on each other's desks, but with an odd twist: hidden notes in phony documents, back when they'd hardly had any time to see each other, though nothing ever romantic.

**16 - Cold**

It happened sometimes and when neither of them were expecting it, causing Reeve to panic because he doesn't know what to _do_ about it except hold Vincent's arms, hold him tight and close, as the tremors shock the ex-Turk's body and his skin goes icy from trying to fight off the change, Vincent's cold hands tight in his night shirt, eyes so _wide_ that it _hurts_ to look into them (even as they go from red to gold-on-black and back), because Reeve can't help him fight an enemy that's not just under the skin, but in your eyesheadBRAIN, and it _hurts_ knowing that he can't blame it on Chaos when Chaos isn't there anymore.

**17 - Need**

"Do you really want that for yourself?" he asked, holding out his hand, and the other frowned, shaking his head, _no._

**18 - Drunk**

"It's not that I have natural resistance..." Vincent began, answering Tifa's simple 'how did you _not_ end up drunk off your ass' question, despite the fact that this is the first time he's actually ordered one of her drinks instead of going off and drinking with Cid like he did every Tuesday, and he holds out his thank-you gift: a bottle of well-aged, been-off-the-shelf bottle of Odin, the best vodka there ever was, and then Tifa smiles and says, "No wonder-- this stuff takes a liver of steal to get down."

**19 - Mask**

Reeve never really was any good at being stone-marble-whatever, so he still visits the memoriam dedicated to all the soldiers of Deepground, alone, secretly, so that he doesn't have to let anyone know he still felt bad when everyone else could put it behind them.

**20 - Rose**

"They were her fav..." Vincent found himself trailing off with Shelke looking up at him from under her umbrella, still confused as to why she found him at a flower shop, soaking wet, and looking at red roses.

**21 - Two**

They were really only just two people with barely an idea of what they were even doing in life, but when it came down to it, with the messes and the pain and the good things, it was really all that there needed to be.

**22 - Fresh**

With a gentle smile, Reeve got up from his home-office desk and pulled some of the fresh sheets from Cait Sith's small arms and thanking the robot for all the help he was when even he couldn't keep on top of the normal things.

**23 - Bribe**

"It'll never work and you know Reeve'll probably never forgive you," Cloud muttered, much to Yuffie's disappointment, snatching the camera away from her, and she smiled sweetly, asking, "What if I gave you a picture, then would you let me?"

**24 - Error**

_Aim carefully... don't rush... take your time..._ he thought to himself, easing into position as his target came into view, _one clean shot, that's all I need_-- Vincent wasn't fond of sniping missions, but when it came to hostage situations that involved a certain WRO Commissioner getting into more trouble than needed, he found that he didn't have room to miss.

**25 - Appetite**

"You've got plenty of... okay, so I thought you had plenty of those snack things..." Reeve said as he rooted through the pantry with Vincent sitting at the kitchen table and munching on some toast, "I'm surprised your metabolism can actually handle that many carbs every day."

**26 - Refrain**

Never again has become Cid's motto: he was never going to take Reeve with him when he and Vincent when out for their usual drinks ever again, he was never going to let his guard down ever again, and he was never, _ever_ going to let his wife force the couple to crash at their place again-- he didn't need Cait Sith bashing down the front door and waking up the baby again (especially when Shera kicked him and told him it was his problem, sheesh... women).

**27 - Family**

By the time Cid's and Shera's first kid was five, and Cloud and Tifa were expecting, they were all starting on their own families... but somehow... well, Vincent didn't follow Reeve's idea of 'children'; roughly eight cats, to which Vincent was rather allergic...

**28 - Grieve**

"It seems almost unreal..." Reeve murmured and poured his second cup of coffee, trying to pull his black funeral tie on with numb hands, and Vincent bats his hands away and fixes Reeve's tie, the brunette sighing, "You might have liked my mother."

**29 - Vapor**

Life had a tendency to be very tedious at times, and plans the WRO made to help the public, help the people, seemed to go up in smoke more often than not.

**30 - Tea**

"At least no one was shot, it happens," Shelke offered tentatively, the waitress setting down their mugs of tea in front of her and Reeve with ceramic clinks, and the man simply shook his head, his expression saying it all: _that it happened at all was bad enough._

**31 - Medicine**

"It's not funny, Vincent-- I hate needles, and you know it, so I'm not getting the flu shot, no, you _can't_ make me!" Reeve muttered, coughed, and rolled

**32 - Moth**

Metaphorically speaking, they were all bugs, bugs being attracted to the ever-bright flame of mako, until they ended up too close, too close for comfort and burned to cinders; it was just a good thing, in both of their opinions, that at least one of them was more resilient than the other.

**33 - Perfect**

Nothing was ever, ever perfect: They we're long hours, slept even less, dealt with pain and issues, and things that kept cropping up, and sometimes half-arguments in which Reeve was really the only one yelling at anyone-- things went so wrong all the time, so frustratingly wrong, but that was really the part that at least made the better parts worth it.

**34 - Rope**

"You know..." Yuffie began with a sly grin, "there are times when I should probably tie you both to a tree out in the middle of the Sleeping forest, if that's what it takes to make you two go on vacation."

**35 - Wind**

There are things that Vincent didn't expect Reeve to understand, hell, there were things neither of them understood, but the feel of the ground under him, moving, getting it all out of his system... that was where Nanaki came in: Nanaki knew what it was like to run as far and as fast as you could, the air rushing in and out of your lungs, around your body, and finding a small measure of freedom in it.

**36 – Crossroads**

"Wutai is full of crossroads, Reeve, it's easy to get lost here..." Reeve heard Vincent mutter, and smiled to himself, thought a little saddened that Wutai had changed even enough for the gunman to not even recognize it.

**37 – Summer**

Wutai was beautiful in the summer and so full of people now, people who were glad to have their culture back, to have room to expand-- it's reds and golds and gardens people... getting lost hadn't mattered then, so maybe this vacation really wasn't such a bad idea...

**38 – Candy**

There was a range of reasons Vincent disliked sweet things like candy --dark chocolate not included-- and mostly because he wasn't, never had been even 'back then', used to the taste of it and it hurt to eat anything so extreme, but he could help but sigh as reeve put another box of vanilla ice-cream in the freeze... it'd never last a week.

**39 – Photograph**

And he finally got it, picking the old photo up and out of the box, looking at it (he had to hold it up to Vincent to actually try and grasp it, let it sink in) and the comparison, noticing that other than a few minor details, the 'back then' chapter had finally come to a close, now.

**40 – Spoon**

"Wow, I didn't know spoon could be used to unlock doors... this coming from someone who keeps either _destroying_ his phone or _losing_ it... hey, that was uncalled for, she's stalking you're phone no-- it's cold and I'm on a damn pay phone in my pajamas, so it's not funny at all!"

**41 – Forest**

He held a certain... affinity for the Sleeping Forest-- it held his secrets just as well as he held its.

**42 – Mirror**

The window of the WRO HQ building was like a piece of looking glass, reflecting the Christmas party on the inside, superimposed like dancing phantoms of color, but neither of them were attached to the party, simply watching Edge and the hole that was once Midgar... even now they could still here the screams, if only a mirrored echo in their minds.

**43 – Smoke**

Vincent let out a faint breath as he set his glass of Odin down on the bar, Cid's grin dropping some and a concerned look crossed his face, and Vincent looked at him before stealing the cigarette between the blonde's lips and taking a drag: "These things are going to kill you, Chief."

**44 – Shine**

Shelke has a hard time trying to feel happy for them-- Vincent and Reeve, because she still has _her_ data in her network, burning like fire, and sometimes she really hates the fact that she's happy for them both.

**45 – Balloon**

After Kalm rebuilt, there was a festival each year, celebrating two things, Meteorfall and then what people were starting to call "the Ending", celebrating life and all its wondrous forms.

**46 – Vine**

Edge was suffering a new sort of nemesis that even the Guardhounds couldn't handle, and most of the WRO Soldiers agreed; Assassin Vines were not quite unlike cockroaches, but damn, were they even harder to kill after the mako in the soil cleared.

**47 – Butterfly**

Vincent didn't like it, not at all, not the way the science department --no matter how much a necessary evil it is from the World Restoration Organization-- would hound him, asking over and over and over again to practically pin him up like a butterfly to a cork board; he disliked science with a passion.

**48 – Gloves**

Vincent wasn't surprised when Reeve started wearing gloves as the brunette's training went on, not really, and it's alright that his hands are rough now from the use of a gun, it's alright that Reeve still flinches at the sound of gunfire-- even if it's from himself, _especially_ if it's from himself: "Start carrying one with you, Reeve... it's better that you're protecting yourself and others this way."

**49 – Venom**

Shinra and it's mako had been like a poison, a horrible sickness with the memories still scarred and burning, and neither of them could say they were surprised, but still rather disgusted when Rufus had come out and said he'd been the one financing WRO all along.

**50 – Remain**

It was a the little moments, Vincent and Reeve decided; the little moments that cured a little bit of the darkness and drove back some of the nightmares, even though they both know that this small, tentative happiness isn't going to last forever-- but Reeve grinned anyways, and Vincent's lips quirked up somewhat, and they both sat at the kitchen table with their mounds of paperwork knowing that it was going to be okay anyways...

* * *

Yeah. A note. Assassin Vines are a Dungeons and Dragons© monster, and thus I don't own.

Not my best work, but it's a start. The Vincent/Reeve pairing is actually a lot of fun to work with.


End file.
